Gabrielle Giffords Former U.S. Rep. Gabrielle Giffords will receive the 2013 Jewish Heritage Award at the Jewish History Museum’s annual brunch and silent auction on Sunday, Nov. 3 from 9 to 11:30 a.m. The event will take place at the Tucson Marriott University Park, 880 E. Second Street. The award is… Read more »
(copyright Irving Olson) The Jewish Federation of Southern Arizona’s Northwest Division will hold a fundraising event, You Gotta Have Heart, on Thursday, Nov. 14 at 5:30 p.m. The evening will include a 100th birthday celebration for Irving Olson, the honorary event chair, as well as a live and silent auction of art… Read more »
Rabbi Ethan Tucker will serve as scholar-in-residence at Congregation Anshei Israel Nov. 8 and 9. His topic will be “Judaism and Ethics.” Tucker is co-founder, rosh yeshiva and chair in Jewish law at Mechon Hadar, a New York-based educational institution. Named one of America’s Top 50 Rabbis by Newsweek… Read more »
The 9th annual CHAI Circle Retreat, “A Day for Healing and Spirituality,” will take place on Sunday, Nov. 3 from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. at the Canyon Ranch Health Resort, 8600 E. Rockcliff Road. A light breakfast and lunch will be provided. There is no registration fee for… Read more »
Rabbi Wayne Dosick, Ph.D., author of eight books including “The Real Name of God: Embracing the Full Essence of the Divine,” will present a workshop at Congregation Chaverim on Sunday, Nov. 3 from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. Dosick is the founder and spiritual leader of the Elijah Minyan,… Read more »
Hadassah Southern Arizona will sponsor a free education seminar, “Be Your Own Health Advocate,” on Sunday, Nov. 10, 9 a.m. to noon at Tucson Medical Center’s Marshall Auditorium, 5301 E. Grant Road. The emphasis of the seminar will be on lifestyle choices and preventive measures that promote wellness. The… Read more »
A gravestone at the Jewish cemetery in Douglas shows signs of vandalism. (Benjamin Herman) Touring the U.S.-Mexico border may conjure up intrigue, fear and compassion, depending on one’s perspective. For Congregation Anshei Israel’s Assistant Rabbi Benjamin Herman, checking out the border led to an adventure in Jewish pioneer history. On Nov. 29, 2012, Robert Feinman, vice president of the humanitarian organization Humane Borders,… Read more »
Craig Breslow is the Boston Red Sox nominee for the prestigious Roberto Clemente Award for his charitable works. (JTA) — When Craig Breslow entered Saturday night’s playoff game against the Detroit Tigers, FOX broadcaster Tim McCarver hailed the Boston Red Sox reliever — a Yale University graduate with a double major in molecular biophysics and biochemistry — as the smartest player in Major League Baseball. But with… Read more »
New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg, shown here at the National Tennis Center on Aug. 26, 2013, was named the first winner of the Genesis Prize. (Matthew Stockman/Getty Images) NEW YORK (JTA) — In August, New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg told New York magazine, “Wouldn’t it be great if we could get all the Russian billionaires to move here?” Today, the Russian billionaires — or at least some Jewish ones — returned the compliment, naming Bloomberg the first… Read more »
With Boston back in the World Series, Red Sox marketing guru Adam Grossman doesn't mind the longer work days or shorter preparation time for next season. (Billie Weiss for the Boston Red Sox) (JTA) — You’d think Adam Grossman has a pretty easy job. After all, with the Boston Red Sox owning one of the most iconic brands in professional sports and gunning for their third World Series title in the past decade, how hard could it be to put fans in… Read more »
KIEV, Ukraine (JTA) — The police station on Stefan Bandera Street in Lviv used to be just another government building to Dmitry Flekman. But that changed earlier this month following a nine-hour interrogation by two detectives, who were accused of torturing and humiliating the 29-year-old Jewish businessman. It’s an… Read more »
Yekaterinburg Mayor Yevgeny Roizman meeting with a constituent in his office, Oct. 17, 2013. (Cnaan Liphshiz) YEKATERINBURG, Russia (JTA) — Growing up in one of the Soviet Union’s richest cities, Elena Chudnovskaya never imagined that she would be raising her daughter in a place so full of drug addicts that “the flowerbeds became strewn with syringes.” But that is what became of her downtown apartment… Read more »
Former Saudi ambassador Prince Turki bin Faisal al Saud confers with Israeli strategic affairs analyst Yossi Alpher at the National Iranian American Council conference in Washington, Oct. 15, 2013. (NIAC) WASHINGTON (JTA) — Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is hoping the enemy of one’s enemy truly does become a friend. In recent years, Netanyahu has said the enmity for Iran shared by Israel and the Arab states could become a spur to regional reconciliation. Last week, in a speech… Read more »
Syrian refugees in the Jordanian city of Mafraq collect supplies funded by IsraAid, an Israeli humanitarian aid organization, and distributed through a local Jordanian NGO. MAFRAQ, Jordan (JTA) — The purple plastic sacks fill two rooms in the otherwise sparsely furnished headquarters of a Jordanian NGO, awaiting distribution to Syrian refugees already lined up on the sidewalk. They contain an array of staple dry goods — lentils, pasta, powdered milk, tea — as well… Read more »
Jewish immigrants of the Bnei Menashe arriving at Ben Gurion airport in Israel, Dec. 24, 2012. (Uriel Sinai/Getty Images) SDEROT, Israel (JTA) — A Kassam rocket had just landed across the street, but it couldn’t wipe the smile off David Lhundgim’s face as he entered his apartment in this embattled town near the Gaza border. Born in the rural provinces of northeast India, Lhundgim had lived in Sderot… Read more »
President Obama congratulates Janet Yellen after nominating her to head the Federal Reserve, Oct. 9, 2013. (Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images) WASHINGTON (JTA) — Janet Yellen is soft-spoken, tough, methodological, flexible — and Jewish. President Obama’s announcement last week that he had tapped Yellen, 67, to succeed Ben Bernanke as chairman of the Federal Reserve made news in part because she would be the first woman in the top spot.… Read more »
U.S. Undersecretary of State for Political Affairs Wendy Sherman testifies during the hearing before the House Foreign Affairs Committee, Oct. 14, 2011. (Alex Wong/Getty Images) WASHINGTON (JTA) — Is the U.S. government shutdown undermining the sanctions that helped bring Iran to Geneva this week for talks aimed at ending the standoff over its nuclear program? Top administration officials have been emphatically making the case that it is. Wendy Sherman, the third-ranked official at the… Read more »
BEIT SHEMESH, Israel (JTA) — It was only when her sons came at her with knives that she realized keeping quiet was not going to work. For nine years, her rabbis had told her not to speak up about her husband’s verbal, physical and sexual attacks. They assured her that… Read more »
Spend five minutes with Oshrat Barel, the new director of the Weintraub Israel Center and community shlicha (Israeli emissary), and you realize that this is a woman who radiates joy. It is not surprising that the title of Barel’s talk for the Jewish Federation of Southern Arizona Women’s Philanthropy… Read more »
Handmaker will recognize volunteers Michael and Allison Wexler and their daughters, (L-R), Lily, Sage and Bella, at its “Celebration of Tucson’s Oldest Jewish Residents” on Oct. 22. Handmaker Jewish Services for the Aging will hold its fifth annual “Celebration of Tucson’s Oldest Jewish Residents” on Tuesday, Oct. 22 at 11 a.m. The lunch is a celebration of Jewish Tucsonans ages 88 and older. The Wexler family will be recognized for their spirit of volunteerism and commitment… Read more »
